Quote (bogie160 @ 19 Nov 2024 06:48)
Ukraine was (and is not) a direct democracy, it's a representative one. In a representative democracy you choose the person who represents you. Yanukovych was that person. The decision as to whether it was better to refuse or accede to Russia's demands was entirely his to make.
Just was it was the democratic right of Ukraine's pro-EU faction to start peaceful demonstrations against Yanukovych's decision. Which is exactly what they did. It was Yanukovych who lost his nerves and had the peaceful protesters brutalized by his secret police,
then the protesters eventually fought back and from there, the escalation spiral took off.
Quote (Goomshill @ 19 Nov 2024 07:36)
And in a democratic republic, there are ample levers for a majority voice to change the course if they disagree. Elections were due in a year when the EU / RU debate governed a path decades long. People can vote out a president, like America just did. A peaceful transfer of power. Nobody petitioned their government for redress or tried an electoral campaign.
[...] Had the pro-EU faction gained a groundswell of support, how would Russia react? Perhaps they would have been compelled to intervene to crush a Ukrainian democracy opposed to their interests.
The pro-EU faction did indeed see a groundswell of support, it manifested itself via mass demonstrations across most of Ukraine (ofc more pronounced in the West than the East). The pro-Russia side did indeed intervene by attempting to crush this movement with violence.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 19 2024 10:50am